yesforbetterscotland-blog

[yesforbetterscotland-blog]

Living with the decision

I was naturally gutted in the early hours of Friday morning when the results came in as a definite No. I felt sad. I felt angry at the steps Westminster had taken to ensure a No vote in the last couple of weeks. I felt more anger towards the elderly who had voted No and tipped the results so much. Had they believed the rumours about their pensions? Did they not think it was worth it for their relatively short time left on earth? That lasted until I got up again (almost immediately) on Friday morning. I felt sad, but almost as if the whole Yes campaign had been a dream. I forgave the No voters instantly because to do otherwise means we do not live in a democracy. We were fighting for our right to a true democracy and so we must accept the democratic vote. That doesn't mean I don't feel sad or robbed. It means tough, it has happened. I am fearful for the immediate future, I do not relish the coming austerity from Westminster. Then I became aware of the revenge. Angry Yes voters who saw that winning had been within grasp. And so they wanted to punish everyone who had lost that elusive 6% that would have won it for Yes. No voters. Not Scottish enough apparently. Being fearful is now despicable. The UK government and its politicians. Of course they are going to protect it come what may. It is their job to do whatever is in the best interest of the UK. Just because they used their power and general influence to sway us, and just because that seems unfair, doesn't mean that they weren't right to do it. They don't want to lose Scotland, of course they don't. The vow was obviously never going to be kept to. The extra powers are unlikely in the timetable given, if ever. I've been saying this for ages, just look at Wales. Remember that a Westminster MP has to do what is best for the UK. I'm not entirely sure anyone can forgive the MSPs for campaigning for no. I think they may have lost a lot of their seats come 2016. There is a list of companies that we should boycott because they contributed to the negativity and No campaign. Because that will achieve...? Even if all 1.6 million Yes voters do that it is a very small percentage of their customer base. They would have potentially alienated far more people had they supported independence. And you know you'll be back. Next time you need something after 10pm and only Asda is open. Next time someone offers you a Teacake. Next time a paper is giving away some Lego. Next they want to stop paying the TV licence. They'll have to, eventually, pay it and meantime they need to tell themselves that they won't want to watch Match of the Day, Strictly, EastEnders*, CBeebies or listen to any BBC radio, because if they did that would be wrong and hypocritical. I feel traitorous, as if I am belying my Yes roots by not joining The 45. But I can't get behind a campaign of revenge. We had a vote, we tried to reach people. We didn't do enough and it is over. Politics and doing good are not over, but I'd like to see the beautiful Yes campaign grow into a good, open minded, forgiving grassroots campaign for fairness. Why can't we all get behind the upgrade - in full, not just a quarter of it - of the A9 north of Perth? Why can't we fully understand what we want and fight for it? See which parties support what you care about and vote for them. We don't need to get revenge. The referendum is done and we lost. That is democracy. We have to accept it graciously. At present the 45 are running the risk of alienating so many people that what is said won't be listened to. What is the point of that? You can't bring about change from a position of lunacy. Yes, stay together, yes, keep fighting the good fight. But act rationally and not from revenge. Chase for what you believe in instead of trying to change the past. Also, don't pick the name of a failed Jacobite Rebellion. "The 45" name is taken and has so many negative connotations.

[yesforbetterscotland-blog]

#indyref #yes journey to decision

The decision to vote in the future of one’s country is not one to be taken lightly.

I have considered it, and considered it more. I have wavered momentarily onto don’t know and considered it more. I think I’ve read more about the referendum than anything I have qualifications in. I am informed. I’ve a science background and understand the difference between good and bad evidence. I’m not stupid.

I have concluded that I want to vote Yes. But that doesn’t mean I am not aware of the risks, that I don’t fear that we may struggle initially. We may well, but we have survived the last 6 years and not been annihilated. Things will improve in time, however bad it gets.

I argue with all the negatives, because I don’t think they outweigh the positives. The long term benefits outweigh the risks and so I will bang on and on about the benefits. I won’t go on Twitter and say “actually I’m a bit worried about buying a house” because I’m fighting the Yes campaign. There are risks. No doubt about that. But the benefits, as detailed previously, are worth the risk. It might be awful. It might be ok. It might be great. We don’t know.

In the fullness of time, when my children are grown, Scotland will be better as an independent country. Of that I have no doubt. The people of Scotland will ensure that is so, because we can. Our mighty land will see us good.

If it is a rocky journey, so be it. We’ve survived worse. And it is worth it for the end result.

We don’t go into this blinkered. We have our eyes wide open and are aware and worried about what could go wrong. But we are passionate and hopeful and we will work as a country because we can come together as a grass roots operation and achieve sheer greatness. Team Scotland has so much behind it. We will deal with the struggles as we always do and we will emerge as a strong, beautiful, asset rich, proud country.

Of course we argue. We are Scottish and we are passionate and we would argue black is white if it suited our argument. But never assume that our social media comments are the whole story. That is just the culmination of all of the background thinking that we’ve done.

All Yes voters want is to make our country a better place and we know what we have to do to achieve that.

[yesforbetterscotland-blog]

The promise of more powers

A #indyref vote for No says goodbye to change. Should we get the power to increase tax, we would pay additional taxes, obviously. But we would have our funding reduced as a result. So we would have the same money, same budget, while paying more taxes. If the power was used to reduce taxes, we would pay less taxes, and the budget for everything would be reduced. We would not receive additional funding. So the taxes would have to go back to how they are now. Basically, as with the tax varying powers that Salmond has been slated for not using, we wouldn't be able to vary tax at all. The power would be useless and unusable. Whatever happens, they will not devolve all revenues raised in Scotland. Never ever. Revenues will still flow south and be returned as per agreed rates. Furthermore, if we are granted the powers, how much we receive would be examined and considered. And we would have just voted confidence in the UK government by voting No. That doesn't bode well. So if we vote No, we get powers we cannot use, plus we open ourselves up to significant changes, which are unlikely to be favourable AFTER we have voted No. We won't be in a negotiating position AFTER we have rejected independence. The only way we can have powers that we can actually benefit from is to vote for full power.

[yesforbetterscotland-blog]

Why I am voting Yes in the #indyref

I’ve gone on about it enough, but these are the reasons I am voting Yes:

1) I want our people to have the government they vote for. The current government is what made me initially decide that I’d like Scotland to be independent.

2) The UK is not just. The inequality between rich and poor is appalling. I have no need for benefits or food banks, but it breaks my hearts to see people in my country not getting the former and requiring the latter. Whatever happens in an independent Scotland, we would adjust this and have a more just society. It won’t be perfect, but even a little fairer is better. Our political leanings and beliefs lead to fairer decisions. We would never vote in politicians that made cuts to welfare while cushioning the rich.

3) The UK is a mess, I am more than a little ashamed of what it does. I’m ashamed of the Empire, what we did to the world. I’m ashamed of what we are doing in Iraq etc. I detest the welfare cuts as detailed above. We have a chance to walk away from this, to be our own country and make our own mistakes.

4) The UK is broke and in huge debt. So much of its expenditure does not affect Scotland in the slightest. Do I want to contribute to a high speed rail link to London or would I prefer a dual carriageway to Inverness? One is happening, one is not and keeps not happening, even though our parliament has it as a priority. We may be skint in an independent Scotland, but it would be for things that Scotland wants and needs. 

5) I don’t want to leave Europe. I don’t want UKIP, I don’t agree with them. If we stay in the UK, there will be a vote, in which we have a 10% say, as to whether we stay in Europe. Whatever happens with our EU membership, we’ll get in eventually.

6) Our parliament has been brilliant, under the SNP. If we can achieve that much, and we have made a brilliant job of what has been devolved, what could we do in charge of everything.

7) If we remain in the Union, we could lose everything. We could lose our parliament at some stage, it is always possible. As long as they hold our purse strings, so they can control us. The NHS is not safe. Free education is not safe. These things are so important and while we control how they run, we are still subject to funding from Westminster.

Those are the reasons I decided on Yes. But the campaign has added:

8) A Yes vote is a vote for hope and passion. It is positive. The people of Scotland who are voting Yes are doing so for good, fair, hopeful and positive reasons. Go to Twitter and read #yesbecause and feel utterly inspired.

9) The No people have mocked me and patronised me and tried to beat me down to convince me I am wrong. We are too wee, too poor, too genetically programmed to be inept. I prefer the positive passion.

10) It is an adventure. What could we achieve? There is no reason to suppose we wouldn’t succeed and we could be brilliant. The Scots are amazing, we are educated, brave, inventive, passionate and fair. We believe in ourselves.

11) Wars have been fought for independence. All we have to do is cross a box.

12) The Nordic life is more in line with how we think. We could be like that. We have assets the same as Norway. I’d love to live in an egalitarian society, I’d love to try.

[yesforbetterscotland-blog]

Keep calm and avoid risk

You wouldn’t want to go it alone. They are used to making decisions for you, you are not used to it. Yes, you may have made a good job of the decisions you have already made, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t get all the new ones wrong. They can keep deciding and you don’t have to worry your pretty little heads about big complicated decisions. They will take care of it.

Going it alone is risky. Big, big risks. Imagine if you didn’t have them there, being all big and powerful, and you tried to carry on doing what you’ve always done, but without supervision. You might implement ideas that only you like and that might not be good for them. They wouldn’t like that at all. How would they look if you were right? You don’t want to risk that. After all, you’ve been together a long time, you should want what is best for them.

It is risky. Remember that word: Risk. Going it alone is risky. Going into the unknown is risky. It is a risk. Do you want to risk the future? The future will be full of risk if you leave. Risk that you could have avoided by staying. Unknown risks at that. Risks that they don’t even know what they are because they are so risky. You would even be risking things that are quite quite safe, because things can change and the risk is always there that you might lose it. Everything. Every single thing is at risk. They don’t know how exactly, but the unknown can only be bad. Very bad. Bad AND risky.

You could argue that there are known changes ahead by staying, that they themselves put greater risk on what you hold dear. But you would be wrong. You only think that because some people have told you that. It is not true. Besides, better the devil you know, eh?

You don’t want to be confused by figures

or facts. You mustn't listen to the people telling you that you'd be ok. They are very bad people. So even if what they are saying sounds right, they are wrong because they are bad. They are just trying to influence you with facts and things that just make them look right, while they are bad. It is important you remember this and try to find the bad in everything they do or say. What they say might sound nice, but if you try really hard you can find something vaguely ambiguous that you can misunderstand and hold against them. They are bad people. Don't forget that. And if the protectors of the good and safe seem bad at all, remember that they are not bad. They are just being made to look bad by the supporters of change, or as we know them, the bad people. Really, you are best not to think about it too much. Leave thinking to those who think all the time. You have better things to do. Let them think for you. Think no more on the subject and just go with the most negative emotions you can come up with when the time comes to decide and reject all notions of bad, risky change.

[yesforbetterscotland-blog]

#indyref The lies they tell

The basis for the No campaign is based on lies and utter ridiculousness. If we want to see what we would be like independent, we have a very good example just across the water.

Ireland is an independent country and shares the island on which it is located with Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom. Ireland is a European country and subject to all that comes with being such.

We all know this. We can see it. We can visit it. We know how it works.

There are no border controls between Ireland and Northern Ireland. Residents of each can access hospitals in the other. Ireland freely trades with the UK, and shares many businesses. The people of Ireland watch BBC programmes.

Why would we be different?

Should it go wrong, we can look to our not quite so near neighbours also. Ireland and Iceland were both severely affected by the crash of 2008. Both have recovered, more rapidly than the UK has. The UK is in a desperate state, cuts are being made incessantly and the whole recovery has been handled far less efficiently than either Ireland or Iceland handled it.

Ireland became independent from the UK in relatively recent history. None of the doom mongery that the No campaign have put forward has happened to Ireland. Why on earth would these things happen to Scotland?

To imagine how we would be as an independent country is quite simple. We would be in a geographical and historical position virtually identical to Ireland. In addition to this, we have the same assets as Norway. I can’t think of a more positive way to be.

The No campaign is from those who would lose out in an independent Scotland. The English (not individual Englishmen before I cause offence, I mean the government) and Scottish MPs whose career is based in Westminster. These are the people who are lying to us with silly stories of fearful situations that are laughably unlikely. The truth shows that we can do it. If it didn’t, they wouldn’t lie. If there were genuine reasons for staying in the UK, they would have given us them rather than lies and pessimism. They haven’t. Don’t trust them with your vote, don’t trust them to control us forever more.

[yesforbetterscotland-blog]

Fix the past

All these countries used to be British: Antigua and Barbuda; Australia; The Bahamas; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belize; Botswana; Brunei Darussalam; Cameroon; Canada; Cyprus; Dominica; Fiji Islands; The Gambia; Ghana; Grenada; Guyana; India; Jamaica; Kenya; Kiribati; Lesotho; Malawi; Malaysia; Maldives; Malta; Mauritius; Mozambique; Namibia; Nauru; New Zealand; Nigeria; Pakistan; Papua New Guinea; St Kitts and Nevis; St Lucia; St Vincent and the Grenadines; Samoa; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Singapore; Solomon Islands; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Swaziland; Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; Tuvalu; Uganda; United Republic of Tanzania; USA; Vanuatu; Zambia. They were British because the Empire took them over, which is something to be appalled at, not impressed. The English expanded the Empire to include Scotland, by stopping us trading with them and subsequently bankrupting us. We remain as one of very few British countries that were once a separate country. I don't believe one of those counties listed above ever wish that they were still British. Most fought a bitter and bloody war to gain independence. We can just walk away, we just have to put an x next to "Yes". What would all the countries that fought for independence think of us if we threw it away? What would our ancestors think if we didn't take the chance to peacefully negotiate ending a union we didn't want in the first place? 300 years isn't long in our history. We always have been a proud and great country. The Scots have achieved so much, we can again.

[yesforbetterscotland-blog]

RESPONSE TO THE CLAIMS MADE BY HM GOVERNMENT

HM Government's glossy booklet of claims arrived last week through my door and has been annoying me something rotten since. It is boldly making claims that to the uninformed make it sound impossible to conceive voting Yes.

Lies. Unsubstantiated.

All the advantages of the pound

We have two possibilities: the pound or the euro. Or perhaps the groat. It doesn't mean we won't be able to trade, purchase or anything else. We will have a currency. Right now there is no legal tender in Scotland, we use the pound through convention and the pound is legal currency that we can use. So the button could equally well be currency.

Closest Trading Partners.

The reasons given here is that we are recovering from the diabolical mess that the previous government got us into faster than any other G7 country and that most of our exports go the the rest of the UK. 

Note, not G8, because Russia are doing brilliantly and don't fit the argument. Not the smaller independent countries that would be like Scotland because, oops, they are doing better too.

The latter part suggests England wouldn't trade with us, their neighbours. The international border is THEM not us.

More business and jobs

Many Scots are employed in financial services. And of course we wouldn't have banks or other financial institution. We'd keep our Buttons in giant silken purses. We'd have the chance to create new, uncorrupted institutions which would provide a lot of jobs. And that's not including any of the businesses which have shrugged and said independence wouldn't affect their operations. Sadly the media are twisting facts and reporting businesses stating they'd leave when they didn't so it's a bit hard to know what's true. The media circulated scare stories of all the companies that were going to leave after devolution, and they didn't.

Cheaper bills

Because Scotland doesn't have any resources. If only there was some wind, water or oil here. As to interest rates: that's a mighty cock up and we can look to other small countries to see how that is doing.

Safe savings and pensions.

They are joking here, right? 

A bigger economy that protects us all

That would be the economy that blew up and made the government have an excuse to cut costs across everything that matters. 

Lower taxes, higher public spending

...in direct contrast to what is happening in the UK. We currently spend more on public spending and that is at risk if the Barnett formula is recalculated in a cost cutting for Westminster exercise.

More support for public spending

Uhhhhh.

Shared public institutions

My love for the BBC, DVLA, HMRC, Passport Office et al is unending. How unthinkable to have these run in Scotland and maybe have less loopholes, delays and bureaucracy. And think, is we had these institutions in Scotland, they'd have to be staffed. More horrible jobs that we have to fill and earn money and pay taxes and so on.

Protecting our people

Scottish people are at the heart of the UK armed forces supposedly, going into wars we didn't want to fight. Imagine ending that. No embassys? We wouldn't be able to establish them? 

Help for the world's poorest

Because we wouldn't donate. The current government is so kind and giving, they prioritise the poor.  

An influential voice in important places

We would, by default, be part of the Commonwealth. Not being part of NATO is entirely questionable by the presence of Trident. We don't want it, we won't have it and when that is sorted, we will be in NATO. It is the UK government that is causing problems with NATO. THEY CAN'T TALK ABOUT THE EU AS THEY WANT TO LEAVE IT.

A successful family of nations

Being a nation doesn't mean we need to stay a nation. That's not a reason. Children grow up and leave home away from their families, Scotland can leave their family of nations.

We all benefit from being together

We are part of 60 million people. Yay! We only represent 5 million, therefore we are a very small part of that, which is why we can have a government we didn't vote for. And sorry, but not thinking about how Scotland can benefit the rest of the UK and being a scapegoat for things that benefit the other 55 million, is WHY we want independence.

Once you've finished with your booklet of lies, why not fashion it into a handy Yes sign?